On a recent trip to New York, I took the opportunity to attend a digital publishing summit that brought together key digital players including The Huffington Post, The Onion, Buzzfeed and others to discuss trends in publishing. I was interested to learn more about how the media landscape is changing as a result of digital.

Changing reader habits, geared towards a preference for consuming media online and through devices, have led to the decline of print and a subsequent decline in revenue for media outlets. Unsurprisingly, the number one issue up for discussion at the conference was revenue models, most predominately native advertising.

Is the wall between editorial and advertising coming down?

Many critics suggest that native advertising has led to one of the most significant shifts of our times, the gradual breakdown of the wall that used to exist between editorial and advertising. Editorial has never stood completely independent (after all we have a whole industry, public relations, which has given interest groups a platform through editorial), the line has certainly begun to blur.

On the other hand, one could also argue that native advertising leads to more transparency about corporate interests, unlike public relations where corporate interests are buried in editorial. Critics could argue that indeed the wall remains intact.

What does this mean for today’s public relations practitioner? Practitioners must be well versed in digital, social, content and paid media. Borrowing the tactics of other disciplines is now the norm. This doesn’t mean, however, that public relations doesn’t have its place.

Ultimately, public relations brings to the table a crucial focus on understanding target audience and crafting messages and content which cuts through with that audience. This is also paramount for a sound content, digital or social strategy. Public relations also understands the unique role of a brand’s reputation and credibility, which goes beyond simply building brand awareness.

Native advertising won’t mean the end of public relations, but it will mean that public relations will start to look very different.

D-Wave’s quantum chip. GOOGLEGoogle is upgrading its quantum computer. Known as the D-Wave, Google’s machine is making the leap from 512 qubits—the fundamental building block of a quantum computer—to more than a 1000 qubits. And according to the company that built the system, this leap doesn’t require a significant increase in power, something that could augur well for the progress of quantum machines.

Together with NASA and the Universities Space Research Association, or USRA, Google operates its quantum machine at the NASA Ames Research center not far from its Mountain View, California headquarters. Today, D-Wave Systems, the Canadian company that built the machine, said it has agreed to provide regular upgrades to the system—keeping it “state-of-the-art”—for the next seven years. Colin Williams, director of business development and strategic partnerships for D-Wave, calls this “the biggest deal in the company’s history.” The system is also used by defense giant Lockheed Martin, among others.

Though the D-Wave machine is less powerful than many scientists hope quantum computers will one day be, the leap to 1000 qubits represents an exponential improvement in what the machine is capable of. What is it capable of? Google and its partners are still trying to figure that out. But Google has said it’s confident there are situations where the D-Wave can outperform today’s non-quantum machines, and scientists at the University of Southern California have published research suggesting that the D-Wave exhibits behavior beyond classical physics.

Over the life of Google’s contract, if all goes according to plan, the performance of the system will continue to improve. But there’s another characteristic to consider. Williams says that as D-Wave expands the number of qubits, the amount of power needed to operate the system stays roughly the same. “We can increase performance with constant power consumption,” he says. At a time when today’s computer chip makers are struggling to get more performance out of the same power envelope, the D-Wave goes against the trend.

The Qubit

A quantum computer operates according to the principles of quantum mechanics, the physics of very small things, such as electrons and photons. In a classical computer, a transistor stores a single “bit” of information. If the transistor is “on,” it holds a 1, and if it’s “off,” it holds a 0. But in quantum computer, thanks to what’s called the superposition principle, information is held in a quantum system that can exist in two states at the same time. This “qubit” can store a 0 and 1 simultaneously.

Two qubits, then, can hold four values at any given time (00, 01, 10, and 11). And as you keep increasing the number of qubits, you exponentially increase the power of the system. The problem is that building a qubit is a extreme difficult thing. If you read information from a quantum system, it “decoheres.” Basically, it turns into a classical bit that houses only a single value.

D-Wave believes it has found a way around this problem. It released its first machine, spanning 16 qubits, in 2007. Together with NASA, Google started testing the machine when it reached 512 qubits a few years back. Each qubit, D-Wave says, is a superconducting circuit—a tiny loop of flowing current—and these circuits are dropped to extremely low temperatures so that the current flows in both directions at once. The machine then performs calculations using algorithms that, in essence, determine the probability that a collection of circuits will emerge in a particular pattern when the temperature is raised.

Reversing the Trend

Some have questioned whether the system truly exhibits quantum properties. But researchers at USC say that the system appears to display a phenomenon called “quantum annealing” that suggests it’s truly operating in the quantum realm. Regardless, the D-Wave is not a general quantum computer—that is, it’s not a computer for just any task. But D-Wave says the machine is well-suited to “optimization” problems, where you’re facing many, many different ways forward and must pick the best option, and to machine learning, where computers teach themselves tasks by analyzing large amount of data.

D-Wave says that most of the power needed to run the system is related to the extreme cooling. The entire system consumes about 15 kilowatts of power, while the quantum chip itself uses a fraction of a microwatt. “Most of the power,” Williams says, “is being used to run the refrigerator.” This means that the company can continue to improve its performance without significantly expanding the power it has to use. At the moment, that’s not hugely important. But in a world where classical computers are approaching their limits, it at least provides some hope that the trend can be reversed.

IN NEED OF

I am in immediate need of the following things:

BETA READERS for my fictional writings and novels and (if you wish) the poetry and songs that I intend to publish. I want only brutally honest opinions, and I want a wide range of readers/reader-types. (There will be no pay but I will exchange favors and see to it that you are provided with free copies of the finished works). Confidentiality regarding my writings will be expected of course, and I will restrict my beta readers to maybe 6 to 8 people, but I will treat you right.

An EMPLOYEE TEAM for my start-ups. (People to run the businesses, handle marketing, and run day to day operations while I and my partners handle funding and investors, etc.) More on that later.

A TEAM OF BUSINESS BUILDERS/DEVELOPERS AND INVESTORS (start-ups primarily but we may also handle brokerage and turn-arounds on rare occasions) to be put together to found and profit from new business ventures. More on that soon.

PARTNERS to work with me on developing and designing (CAD and prototype designs) my inventions and app designs.

GAME DESIGN PARTNERS who can take the games I’ve designed and/or written and either build physical products out of them or in the case of computer and video games program basic builds that we can use to pitch to game studios.

A brief word of explanation on the above:

Beta Readers – I tend to write my fictional works, short stories, and novels in the following genres: children’s stories, detective and mysteries, espionage, fantasy and myth, historical fiction, horror, and science fiction. My current novel is a high fantasy/myth about Prester John and the Byzantine Empire. I tend to insert a lot of historical and literary references into most of my works. I would not expect my Beta Readers to provide me with detailed critiques or edits, though if you wished to do so that’s up to you. I’m really just looking for basic opinions and do you like the plot, stories, works, etc., and do you have any advice for improvements? As I said I’m open to favor exchanges and free copies of my works.

Also, when it comes to my songs I write the lyrics but I have no real time right now for composing. If you are a composer or lyricist and you wish to enter into a song-writing partnership with me then we will split the credits and your contributions and shares of any successful songs will be protected by contract.

Literary Agent – I want a literary agent with a wide range of interests and one with whom I can develop both a professional relationship and a personal friendship. (I much prefer doing business with people I enjoy.) I want a literary agent who is ambitious, as I am, and one who can help me make my writings successful so that we may both profit handsomely.

Employee Team – more on this later but I’m looking for a good employee team as well as a strong, tight, efficient, and profitable team of administrators, managers, and officers.

Business Builder/Investor/Investment Team – more on this later but I need good people from all areas/sections of the country, and possibly members from outside the US, who can look realistically at start-ups and help develop and fund them into successful enterprises. Backgrounds in brokerage, business building and development, communications, entrepreneurship, investment, and deal-making most desired. But we can also look at other backgrounds. Realistically risk will be high, and loss always possible, but profits should be considerable on successful ventures. This will be both a business creation and development and investment team, sort of like an Investment Club but with a far wider range of interests and with more hands on developmental involvement.

Invention Partners – partners in design and prototyping and product development. We’ll start out with my inventions and maybe yours as well and possibly graduate to taking stakes in other inventions and related businesses if the idea seems solid and viable.

Game Design Partners – people who can take my game designs, and your own, and build programs or physical products out of them. Depending on how much you contribute we’ll take profit shares on sales of the games, regardless of whether it is by the game or we sell the designs outright. As with the inventions your work will always be attributed in the design and protected as a share of profit by contract.

Finally you should know that in working with me my very basic and fundamental Worldview is that I am a Christian by religion, spirituality, philosophy, and nature, a Conservative (with some strong Libertarian leanings) in cultural and political and social matters, and a Capitalist when it comes to economics and monetary affairs.

Therefore I am a disciple and proponent of the teachings of Christ (Truth, Justice, Personal Honor, Honesty, and Fair Treatment of all based on individual behavior are extremely important to me, and I tend to like Charity and Philanthropy), God is my mentor and my best friend, I am Conservative in nature and very much believe in Hard Work and Personal Effort and Individual Initiative and Self-Discipline, and I am pro-Business, Development, Entrepreneurship, and Wealth. I also like to see people exploit their own talents and benefit and profit thereby. I set extremely high goals for both myself and others, and I expect much, but think I am fair and just to work with. I do discriminate and unapologetically so, but not regarding matters of background, class, race, or sex. I only discriminate between good and bad behavior, and between industry and laziness. As a boss or partner I will not long endure intentionally bad or destructive or self-destructive or foolish or apathetic behavior. I am not at all bothered by failure if you seek to improve and advance the next time.

If that all sounds fine by you and you are interested in any of these ventures then please contact me via email or by my Facebook or Linked-In pages or through my blogs or other webpages. We’ll begin Work.

Much of my morning will be spent writing up my proposal for a new business project and the functional and operational structure of the business itself. Or, to be more accurate, transcribing my formulation notes into a proper form for developing the body of the actual proposal.

Later today, in the afternoon, I’ll be devising much of the pitch, assessing the projected financials (it should be able to generate more than one income/revenue stream, and should be able to be funded in more than one way), and so forth.

By the end of the week I plan to present the idea to some potential partners and maybe even an investor or two.

I’m looking forward to this as it is an excellent idea and in a field/industry that interests me a great deal.

I have to admit that if I were Valiant comics, and given Valiant’s roster of characters, having a Chinese entertainment company as a capital and marketing/production partner would probably seem like a near ideal arrangement.

137 Shares

Fear not: There will be no shortage of comic-book movies in years to come, even if DC and Marvel give up on constantly rebooting Batman and Spider-Man. The independent comic-book publisher Valiant Entertainment has secured an eight-figure equity investment from Beijing-based DMG Entertainment, plus an additional nine figures for the production of film and TV projects. The publisher has a library of 2,000 characters, including X-O Manowar and Harbinger, and films based on the titles Bloodshot, Shadowman, and Archer & Armstrong were already in the works. Valiant says its partnership with DMG — which co-produced and co-financed Iron Man 3 — will allow it to “begin to establish its cinematic universe in the United States, China and beyond.”

Related Stories

The two companies plan to develop more superhero films for simultaneous release in the U.S. and China, and to expand Valiant’s Asian audience via Chinese-language publishing, animation, online games, merchandise, and theme parks.

“Audiences in China and the rest of the world are hungry for heroic stories that they can more easily relate to … and with the international box office accounting for the biggest piece of the total gross, the time is right for a truly international superhero franchise,” said DMG President Wu Bing in a press release. “DMG will bring its unique global perspective to the task of transforming the Valiant Universe into the first international comic-movie universe.”

Over the past few months, we have been talking to many entrepreneurs about their knowledge-gap around intellectual property (IP) and other important startup matters that actually impact IP or intangibles (and therefore valuation and ultimately their success). This is the first in a three part series detailing the lessons learned by these early stage companies.

First, what do I mean by traditional IP? I often joke that if I had a dollar for every person who told me they didn’t have any IP in their business, and a second dollar for those who think IP is only patents, I would be rich. Traditional IP to me is the patent or trademark protection. That is not to say that copyrights, trade secrets, and so on are not IP—far from it—but the most common IP is patents and trademarks. Unfortunately there remain some big misconceptions around protecting traditional IP.

A few brave entrepreneurs have shared their stories to help others learn about the importance of IP identification early and often.

Timing is everything

Phillip Felice, Founder of Bridge Optix, described his recent brush with IP horror in a single sentence: “I realized I have underestimated intellectual property timing importance.” Phillip was weeks away from a public release of his product when he was grilled on his company’s IP protection and strategy. He realized that his patents needed to be filed before his public product release.

We have heard other horror stories where companies have spent thousands on branding for websites, signage, or product packaging without first securing rights to a name, including trademarks. Register and secure rights before spending too much of your limited startup capital.

Location, location, location

Patents filed with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) only cover the US. The same goes for trademarks and copyrights filed with the US Copyright office.

I can honestly say that I have never once in my life, that I can recall, ever felt covetous of or jealous of the money, property, or possession of others. And I have never once felt that others owed me their money, property, or possessions unless I worked for them.

I have on occasion wanted more of my own money, property, and possessions, but I do not understand being either jealous of or begrudging the prosperity or possessions of others.

I do not understand that and think it extremely small and petty. I think modern man is sick in his grasping at and jealousy of the resources of others.

The one exception would be if another person got their money, possessions, and property through theft, robbery, or oppression.

Then I have no respect for their gain for they got what they have by covetousness and deceit in themselves and towards others.

I am not a particular fan of modern branding. Or I should say, the modern idea that branding should be a separate entity from the person or individual it brands.

Or to be even more accurate that a brand is something the person who developed the brand submits himself or herself to, regardless of whether the “Brand” actually and accurately reflects the individual’s nature, or whether the brand is upright, honest, and honorable. (Or for that matter whether the person behind the brand is upright, honest, and honorable.) This is not even to mention the modern idea that somehow a brand is a thing in itself and has some sort of imagined or separate value devoid of any real product or service backing the brand. Which is to me the real danger and disaster of so much modern “branding,” the idea that the brand is a thing of value in itself even when it has nothing of real value to back the brand.

However, that being said branding has always existed and always will. From Standard Oil/Petroleum to Walmart. From Old Farmer’s Almanac to SpaceX.

The question to me is not whether “branding exists” (either in modern form or in ancient form), or whether much of what passes as advice on modern branding is worthwhile or not (I suspect much of it is not, being construed in the way it is), but how to best go about the idea and process of developing and promoting your own brand.

Therefore, based upon my own experience with my personal process of having developed my own brands in the past, and with my current process of developing my own brand as both a writer of fiction and as an inventor, below is my advice regarding how to go about setting up your own brand, the types of things you should concern yourself with in creating your brand, and finally with the attributes your brand should encompass.

As for the final section of this post, your Personal Brand Attributes – these are, of course, the specific attributes and characteristics of your brand and what you want that brand to both entail and promote. It will vary with each person and each brand.

Some brands may focus upon customer service, some upon high quality product development, some upon rapidity of product delivery, some upon entirely unique collaborative or customer design. Whatever the particulars of your case may be develop a list of attributes you want your brand and/or your company to encapsulate. And work to achieve and make these attributes real in the body of your brand.

My list of Personal Brand Attributes for my Writings I have listed in this section. Many would be the same but some would be different for my business and for my inventions.

You cannot, of course, encompass all beneficial qualities of a thing in a single brand because certain attributes are competitive and resource consuming in nature (add to one and you basically subtract from another) but there is absolutely no reason your brand, be it personal or corporate, cannot encompass many beneficial qualities and attributes.

As a matter of fact, it should.

PERSONAL BRANDING

In branding yourself do not make your brand in any way alien to or different from your actual and best nature, but rather let your brand flow naturally from the best true qualities of your own Character, Nature, and Personality.

Later, as you Incorporate and grow yourself and your creations into a self-sufficient, self-sustaining Business let your Business both reflect your Personal Brand and allow your business or corporation to exceed your Personal Brand so that your business can develop a Brand of its own.

However only let your Business or Corporate Brand be of the Highest Character and Nature, paralleling your own brand.

1. Pursue useful personal idiosyncrasies and imperfections
2. Be immanently and immediately relatable to as many people as possible
3. Be unique in both execution and style
4. Create a Unique Signature, Logo, and/or Mark and Symbol
5. Have an Individual and Easily Recognized Name or Moniker
6. Protect your Copyrights, Trademarks, and Intellectual Properties (of all kinds)
7. Take Appropriate Risks and take them often
8. Be Profitable and Well-Disciplined and Well-Managed
9. Market Cleverly, Consistently, and Well
10. Hire Excellent and Reliable and Upright Agents and Representatives and employ them consistently on your own behalf
11. Take on Big and important Projects as well as Personal and Intimate Ones
12. Constantly Practice, Study, and Improve yourself
13. Keep Careful and Useful Notes on all Good Ideas
14. Execute Promptly and Completely – Focus on one thing at a time and finish what you start
15. Network and Collaborate – build your Community and Base and treat them respectfully and with loyalty
16. Develop a “Personal Legend” around yourself based upon your own best individual Qualities, Character, Personality, and Nature. Eliminate as much as humanly possible your own failings, vices, and weaknesses. Guard your reputation like a treasure.

IN ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR BRAND BE HONEST AND HONORABLE AND SERVICE ORIENTED

PERSONAL BRAND ATTRIBUTES

Those aspects of your brand that you want to make most directly associated with yourself and your brand

Tonight, now that everything is settled I’m going to order my new literary business cards. The ones declaring me as a fiction writer.

Next week after thinking on the designs awhile I’ll order my cards as a game designer.

At the same time I’ll order my new business cards but first I’m going to rearrange the way I intend to incorporate the business.

This is my intention at this point:

Open Door, Inc.

It will consist of three separate divisions.

Brokerage and Consulting – I used to be both a business and private offerings Broker and a Consultant and want to do both again, if only in a limited capacity. Plus the Funding and Venture Capital contacts will do me a lot of good.

Communications – which is what already exists between my wife and myself, with me as the writer and her as the speaker.

Designs– which will consist of my designs and inventions, and will cover my scientific and technological ventures, and when I can get the funding for it settled, the Museus (my hopefully joint-venture inventions laboratory with the state of SC).

Once all three divisions are up and running properly and have grown to a significant degree I will withdraw from Brokerage and Consulting (except as an adviser and board member) and Communications (handing that over to my wife to run) and thereafter I will concentrate only upon the Design division, helping to run the Museus, and working my inventions, and writing fiction, poetry, non-fiction, songs, etc.

Need a few more breadcrumbs to follow until Elon Musk “unveils the D” (and something else) tomorrow? During an interview tonight at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit, Tesla’s CEO told Walter Isaacson a few juicy tidbits about his news, without really revealing anything — other than what we’ve already seen. According to Musk “One of the things is already there, and people just don’t realize it.” Also, some of the internet’s guesses (dual engine? autonomous driving? AWD?) are apparently on track, as he said people are “directionally correct,” but that they don’t “appreciate the magnitude.” You can watch a clip of of the interview embedded after the break and leave your own theories in the comments, we’ll be reporting live from the unveiling in LA tomorrow night to find out the truth.

This morning while walking in the woods with Sam I was watching a leaf fall, saw it hit a spider’s web (a big one) then turn in a certain way, slip the web, and continue on to the ground.

Suddenly I was hit by a superb idea for a new type of ballistic armor I’m going to call the Slip-Suit. The basic idea will not be to absorb impact from projectiles, but to “slip impact.”

The way I have the Slip-Suit envisioned it should easily be able to be created using current technologies and current materials, though some materials may have to be reconstructed or realigned din design of the suit to function properly.

Also the idea is so close in basic concept to some of the functions of my Aisthpleis Suit that I am seriously considering seeing if they can be integrated in some way. But both suits are so radical in function that their separate technologies may not be integrate-able. It may be possible to put a Slip-Suit beneath the Aisthpleis, but because the Aisthpleis relies so heavily on direct contact with the human body that may not be possible. It may be possible to coat certain areas of the outer surface of the Aisthpleis with parts of the Slip-Suit material (The Slippage) but I’ll just have to see.

This will be a fairly high-tech development so I’ll need the Museus to eventually help me build and capitalize it.

I have classified it – (HT) 1f,g,h:4c:5:7:8

The whole incident also gave me an idea for a much more advanced type of personal suit I’ll call the Explacesure Suit. But this idea is really along the liens more of a science fiction development, than a Real World Invention. The technologies involved and the energy consumption rates that would be required would be enormous and well beyond current technological limits.

As a matter of fact Explacesure is really base upon a defensive combat system I designed for human spacecraft back when I was a kid.

So Explacement will probably have to remain more just a speculative concept and an idea I use in my fiction writings, rather than a viable product invention.

What the Federal government can and should and must do if it is to survive, (and frankly I don’t care if it does) and to encourage Capitalism, Free Enterprise, and the Building of Wealth among American Citizens:

1. Lower Rates of Taxation, at both the Corporate and Individual Levels, and abolish many forms of taxation, such as Social Security taxes, institute a fair tax or consumption tax, and thereafter encourage the development of just and beneficial allodial and fee-free tax systems.

2.Abolish much of government.

3.Spend far less on government.

4. Assist in educating Private Citizens and the entire Society on the advantages of Capitalism, Free Enterprise, Private Industry and Individual Wealth Building, and how these things are actually accomplished (versus the socialistic and communistic principles now being taught as pseudo-science and distorted macro-economics in Federally supported public schools and universities).

5.Abolish many forms of regulation, and severely curtail many other forms of regulation to the lowest possible level in order to still maintain acceptable safety protocols, as well as abolishing subsidies to industry.

6.Eradicate Social Security and all others forms of failed socialistic economic policies and instead replace these with tax incentives and education programs to encourage and develop individual savings and investment and insurance accounts.

7.Abolish Public Education at the Federal level.

8.Return the Federal government to its necessary and very limited functions. Acknowledge and eradicate its numerous and unnecessary losses, rather than encouraging and subsidizing constant and continual states of failure.

9. Employ far fewer people at far less pay and benefits (especially at the Congressional, Court, and Administrative levels), see itself as a Service Oriented and temporary Career or Profession, rather than as a permanent and fixed political class (America should be political-class-free) and a personal benefits industry and life-long occupation. Government is not a “calling,” service in government is a calling. But government is not, and should never be, a life-long enterprise. It is public service, not life-long employment at Public Expense. Americans are not Imperial-era Romans, and neither should we be run like a Third World Banana Republic. To this end it is also extremely necessary to institute Tort and Court reform.

10.Actually become Pro Business, Capitalism, Free Enterprise, Industry, and Private Wealth Creation, as well as becoming Self-Limited and self-limiting, and self-disciplined.What the Federal Government actually does:

1. Seeks any and every opportunity to raise tax rates and to increase the bureaucratic tax burden.

2. Seeks constantly to grow itself at the expense of the nation, the culture, and the People.

3. Seeks constantly to spend more, and to bankrupt itself, the nation, and the American People.

4. Seeks constantly to engage in Socialistic Care-taking policies like Social Security, subsidizing failed enterprises, and seizing control of whole industries like the Medical and Defense Industries.

5. Seeks constantly to increase the regulatory burden of government on every sector of the economy, finance, and enterprise, and even on individual behavior even when the evidence is clear that such regulations cripple or destroy market and national competition and entire sectors of industry and the economy.

6. Constantly grows socialistic programs while at the same time funding them by means that would in every other circumstance be considered illegal and immoral, while suppressing the development of Individual Business and Saving and Investing and Charity and Philanthropy incentives and programs that would actually work, both societally and financially.

7. Constantly fails to educate most people, at great and ever increasing public expense, and the educational efforts it does operate are inefficient and more often than not outright erroneous and inaccurate.

8. Constantly seeks to enlarge and spread its creeping, corrupting, and nefarious influence into all aspects of American life and culture. Continually excuses and subsidizes its own abysmal rates of failure, moral and financial bankruptcy, and horrendous and miserable acts of unrepentant incompetence.

9. Seeks constantly to swell its rank of employees, dependents, unionized collectives, and supporters to give its gargantuan and bloated bulk an apparent and superficial legitimacy it does not really enjoy.

Do you have an idea for a movie or TV show? Are you worried about someone stealing your idea? Let’s talk about how to copyright your ideas, because there are times when you absolutely must protect yourself.

It’s good to recognize your ideas are valuable. It’s understandable that you want to know how to copyright and protect them.

The question is: when do you need to take steps to copyright or otherwise protect your work?

How To Copyright Your Ideas: Overview

In this post, I’m going to talk about a number of copyright issues. I’ll also link to relevant resources along the way so you can get more in depth information about copyright where you need it.

What Is A Copyright?

Why Copyright Protection Is Important

When Copyright Issues Occur

What Copyright Does And Doesn’t Cover

What Having A Copyright Does For You

How To Protect Your Film Or TV Idea

The Do’s And Don’ts Of Copyright

NOTE: I’m not a lawyer and this article does not provide legal advice. Here’s my full disclaimer…

Part of me thinks this is absolutely superb and it has all kinds of beneficial real world applications. As well as all kinds of varied inventive and fictional implications.

Another part of me says, “Remember, your government loves you…”

The last thing these stories and videos made me think of is this: I have often wondered if the Industrial revolution did not occur in the ancient world, as in the modern, because technology was basically carefully controlled and the mechanisms for spreading and disseminating it were not readily available.

For instance in ancient Greece and Rome and in Byzantium (as well as elsewhere) you had some fairly moderate degree of useful technology rather widely disseminated, but only rather small and isolated pockets of much higher technology (such as Greek Fire) and information (great libraries and invention facilities – museums), like at Alexandria (for instance).

But our world may be turning out to be the opposite in function but with the same general end-effect. You have so many pockets of really high, and often advanced proprietary technology, and such a crowded marketplace for disseminating this information and these artifacts (the internet for instance) that it may be becoming nearly impossible for even the most advanced technologies to gain a proper dissemination and general marketing foothold.

That is the sheer number of extremely crowded clusters of high tech projects and the fact that so many highly valuable scientific and technological and business projects are competing at the same time along a very crowded information highway may actually either be reducing the spread of beneficial new technologies, or regulating and reducing that spread to very small and tightly controlled niches and geographies.

In other words we are the working opposite of our ancestors, they had a relatively small number of high tech advances they were creating as the result of a relatively small number of individual geniuses but the ability to share information and the desire to keep such advances secret probably greatly limited the spread of their beneficial advances and technologies.

On the other hand we have a huge number of very important projects underway simultaneously, at countless facilities and under the auspices of hundreds of thousands of brilliant people, all competing for attention at the same time, and the overall net effect is that once again we are subtly suppressing the spread of our own advances and technologies.

Our sheer volume of success is making it almost impossible for everything that should flourish to actually flourish.

As to the last story I am sure we are at a much more advanced stage of development by now.

For those of you familiar with blogging I have a question to ask. I’d like to solicit your advice.

I have four blogs, one is my personal blog, one is my literary blog, one is my business and invention blog, and one is my gaming and design blog.

Three of my blogs are on WordPress, one is on Blogger. When each is old enough and well established enough (I just started them a couple of months back) each will go private, but for now they are hosted.

So here is my question: of these two platforms, WordPress and Blogger, which is better for building your audience and which is better overall if your aim is blog success to support your business and writing enterprises?

At this stage of my blog development process which do you think is the superior platform?

Since almost all work nowadays is written (in some form) or at the very least documented in writing, this is some very good advice about protecting your intellectual property rights and your work.

What Creative People Need To Do To Protect Their Work

Careful where you sign–before you write off your rights to hard work.

With so many ways to share and publish online, it may seem virtually impossible to protect your work from being exploited.

But according to Robert C. Cumbow, an attorney for the Seattle-based law firm, Graham & Dunn PC, who works closely with creative professionals, there are a few simple measures you can take and details you should know to make sure you’re not being exploited…